Useless Conversation

[Mandella]

they will actually stop you from putting your car on a credit card

most places won't let you put more than $5k on it

source: tried, three times, two different states and called my bank and asked

This is true, I tried to run my back porch construction project through the card and no matter what I did no payment processor would run it.

That is weird. I've done it by just stating that I'll be using a personal card so we'll be splitting the total up into a few daily payments. Never even had an argument. The most recent example is my solar project, and I've made car purchases that way (always previously owned vehicles though, which may make a difference).

I guess it just depends on the whims of the seller.

[schild]

That's why you get a corporate card for big purchases.

This doesn't necessarily work either depending on the object. Particularly on points accruing cards.

[Paelos]

they will actually stop you from putting your car on a credit card

most places won't let you put more than $5k on it

source: tried, three times, two different states and called my bank and asked

This is true, I tried to run my back porch construction project through the card and no matter what I did no payment processor would run it.

That is weird. I've done it by just stating that I'll be using a personal card so we'll be splitting the total up into a few daily payments. Never even had an argument. The most recent example is my solar project, and I've made car purchases that way (always previously owned vehicles though, which may make a difference).

I guess it just depends on the whims of the seller.

The problem is that with the new chip cards, the processors don't want to be on the hook for any possible fraud. It's the the cards themselves that are kicking it out. In my case is was Paypal who was the processor (I think Square runs on their same platform as well because it failed too)

[Yegolev]

Bought a car through Carvana and did a bank transfer to pay. Had to get Carvana on the phone with the bank to validate I had the cash on hand but otherwise no issues.

[rattran]

I wrote a check for my last car, took an hour for my bank and Carmax's bank to agree it was ok.

[calapine]

Gas explosion in Vienna.



4 people seriously wounded.

[calapine]

Crazy how "clean" it tore out the walks in some parts. House was built in the 1950ies.

Looks like normal brick wall. The white part is probably the usual heat insulation that gots added on the last renovation.

[Polysorbate80]

Gas explosion in Vienna.

4 people seriously wounded.

When you say “wounded” I’m picturing them being thrown through that wall  yow

[Mandella]

Glad no major fire too!

That boom had to startle some folks I bet.

[IainC]

Had a rough week. Lost my job last week, have been figuring out what happens next. Had some interviews. One for another place here that would be reasonably interesting but would pay less and is across town. One for a place in Bratislava that is super interesting and I could do it remotely, but I'd need to move to somewhere I had residency rights or figure out a way to get a work permit without a company sponsoring me here. One for a Chinese company with an office here that would pay well but be making terrible games.

I'm reasonably confident that I can find something, but I'd really like some fucking stability for a change. Being able to make plans more than three months in advance sounds like it could be nice.

[schild]

Had a rough week. Lost my job last week, have been figuring out what happens next. Had some interviews. One for another place here that would be reasonably interesting but would pay less and is across town. One for a place in Bratislava that is super interesting and I could do it remotely, but I'd need to move to somewhere I had residency rights or figure out a way to get a work permit without a company sponsoring me here. One for a Chinese company with an office here that would pay well but be making terrible games.

I'm reasonably confident that I can find something, but I'd really like some fucking stability for a change. Being able to make plans more than three months in advance sounds like it could be nice.

gaming
stability

pick one

[Sky]

gaming
stability

pick one

95% of why I didn't move to Germany a few years back!

In other notfakebutuseless news, the upside to my recent home upgrades has been a nice reduction in my energy usage. I was kinda shocked to get my monthly usage profile, down almost 20% over last year and 40% lower than my most efficient neighbors (usually about par with most efficient). Fridge helped, but tankless water heat and moving from DLP (180W bulb!) really made an impact. (also warm months = grilling, very little gas stove usage)

I can't remember the last time I paid $66 for a month of electicity and gas.

[Teleku]

Had a rough week. Lost my job last week, have been figuring out what happens next. Had some interviews. One for another place here that would be reasonably interesting but would pay less and is across town. One for a place in Bratislava that is super interesting and I could do it remotely, but I'd need to move to somewhere I had residency rights or figure out a way to get a work permit without a company sponsoring me here. One for a Chinese company with an office here that would pay well but be making terrible games.

I'm reasonably confident that I can find something, but I'd really like some fucking stability for a change. Being able to make plans more than three months in advance sounds like it could be nice.

Arg, that's really shitty man, so sorry to hear!  Seemed like you've been enjoying Bangkok a lot.  Maybe take as much Chinese money as you can while spending most of your time looking for a better job to come up?

[Morat20]

My son is the worst fucking driver. He managed one year and three days.

I mean don't get me wrong, he pays for this shit himself. Pays every penny of his insurance, pays every penny of his car payment, pays every penny of his deductible, etc.

But goddamn, it'd be nice if he could go two years without a fucking accident. I mean thanfully no one has been hurt, but that's "no one has been hurt so far".

At least this one doesn't look totaled at first glance. Crumpled up front end, standard rear-end collision, at fairly low speeds (somewhere between 10 and 30 mph, I would imagine).

[Strazos]

Maybe he doesn't need to be driving...

This is not specific to your son, but I will never understand how perfectly healthy people (ie - not geriatric) can be such poor drivers - it's not that difficult.

Was he texting or otherwise playing with his fucking phone?

[Morat20]

Maybe he doesn't need to be driving...

This is not specific to your son, but I will never understand how perfectly healthy people (ie - not geriatric) can be such poor drivers - it's not that difficult.

Was he texting or otherwise playing with his fucking phone?

No. He's just 22. He's prone to zoning out and just getting lost in his thoughts. It's just the shit that makes any <25 year old a high risk driver be default. As best I can tell, he doesn't mess with his phone, doesn't tend towards speeding or erratic driving in general.

I've ridden with him while he drives, and he doesn't tend towards excessive tailgating or last second braking or anything.

He's got a lot going on life-wise, and I suspect he was zoned out on his daily commute. I suspect he pays less attention once he hits the low speed (30, 40mph areas), since that's where all his accidents have occurred. He does seem to have a habit of ramming a sedan into fucking trucks, which is not great for the sedan. The truck does not seem to notice.

[Mandella]

May want to steer him towards a car with some sort of, even minimal, driver assist.

I usually drive an old truck (and yes, last time I was rear ended my truck barely noticed, not so great for little car hitting me), but sometimes when the truck is in the shop I rent a regular car, most recently a Nissan sedan. It was great, but every once in a while for no reason I'd hear a "beep beep beep." It was annoying especially since there were no odd lights on the dash or anything.

Then I figured it out. It was the proximity detector for the front. Now I *do not* tailgate, but apparently the speed in which I approached cars ahead of me stopped in traffic was sending the poor thing into fits.

I mentioned this as an "how silly is that?" story to my wife, only to find that she rather agreed with the Nissan...

[Trippy]

I mentioned this as an "how silly is that?" story to my wife, only to find that she rather agreed with the Nissan...

You probably haven't been a front seat passenger in a while.

[Sky]

The fiancee is a horrid tailgater, it's very difficult to ride with her. Once I asked her what her ideal count was and she said 2 seconds. I told her 3 seconds was better, but that she wasn't 2 seconds behind the car ahead. So I asked her to count out two seconds, and she quickly said "onetwo".

 

Can I get a couple Mississippis in there, woman?

I learned that not being able to count out seconds is more common than I'd feared, I've seen it many times at work. Usually when I give someone a count for cycling power. For some reason I need to show up and cycle the power myself, because it 'didn't work'. So when I ask them to demonstrate, sure enough...no Mississippis.

I imagine the country might be healthier (figuratively and literally) without Mississippi, but for counting out seconds, it's kind of essential.

edited to add: She has not changed this behavior and thinks it's fine.

[Chimpy]

On most highways, the dashed lane lines (if they exist) are spaced so that if you are going around 60, each line is a second behind the next. So leaving two dashes  between you and the car in front of you gets you close to the rule of thumb.

Also, everyone is a bad driver. But almost no one will admit it though.

[calapine]

I imagine the country might be healthier (figuratively and literally) without Mississippi, but for counting out seconds, it's kind of essential.

Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three seems pretty exact too. Just tried it. Edit: less then 500 milliseconds deviation over 30 seconds!

Also your finances driving behaviour, or more her refusal to acknowledge it, seems like a red flag...

[Yegolev]

No, everyone thinks that their choices are the best.

My wife at least acknowledges some of her limitations and doesn't insist on being allowed to park in the garage.

The boy is going through driving school right now. Good marks, he's very careful but needs experience. I bought a safe car for him (that I can use also) since his job is to excel in academics rather than learn how to work. Although next summer he might get be given a job painting at my wife's company over the summer... mostly as a demonstration of what life will be like if he flops academically.

[Reg]

No pressure though. Right? 

[lamaros]

No, everyone thinks that their choices are the best.

My wife at least acknowledges some of her limitations and doesn't insist on being allowed to park in the garage.

The boy is going through driving school right now. Good marks, he's very careful but needs experience. I bought a safe car for him (that I can use also) since his job is to excel in academics rather than learn how to work. Although next summer he might get be given a job painting at my wife's company over the summer... mostly as a demonstration of what life will be like if he flops academically.

You're joking right?

[HaemishM]

I know that my summer after high school where I worked replacing HVAC units convinced me that I did not belong in any career or job that required manual labor in the outdoors. 

[Sky]

The only reason I got out of manual labor is that it's tough to sustain all the way to retirement. I love and prefer working with my hands.

I mentioned yesterday that Steam's AI suggestions were terrible, and it occurred to me today that AI suggestions are overall resulting in me consuming less content across all platforms. Youtube, Netflix, Prime, Amazon Music. I get tired of scrolling endlessly to find something decent and end up reading a book.

I find this amusing.

[01101010]

The only reason I got out of manual labor is that it's tough to sustain all the way to retirement. I love and prefer working with my hands.

Same boat. I worked as groundscrew on a golf course since freshman year in high school (farm job technicality, so you can work at 14). I loved it, planting, fixing irrigation, fixing machines, etc. After that I was in construction as summer jobs in college, rough in carpentry, painting, laborer... But seeing those lifers working in that field with little else going for them was hard to take after all those years.

[Velorath]

The only reason I got out of manual labor is that it's tough to sustain all the way to retirement. I love and prefer working with my hands.

I mentioned yesterday that Steam's AI suggestions were terrible, and it occurred to me today that AI suggestions are overall resulting in me consuming less content across all platforms. Youtube, Netflix, Prime, Amazon Music. I get tired of scrolling endlessly to find something decent and end up reading a book.

I find this amusing.

Prime’s movie recommendations are generally pretty spot on for me. Of course I also utilize the watchlist functions of most streaming sites to build up a stockpile of stuff I don’t necessarily want to watch right now but will watch eventually.

[Morat20]

And now one of my dogs is lost in the fucking boonies of Texas. They both got out yesterday morning at my in-laws place, which is on a lake in the middle of wooded nowhere Texas.

One was found by a neighbor. The other was seen barking randomly at people around noon, but no one has heard or seen him since. It rained, so the odds of him finding his way back have dropped. The whole area is aware he's loose (apparently loose dogs are common enough they have a phone tree setup for it), but....

Fuck. If he's not found by tomorrow, the fireworks are going to drive him further from the lake (where all the people are) and deeper into the woods and then farmland. Assuming he hasn't already eaten or drunk something that made him sick (it's hot as fucking hell out there), or decide to harass a deer and get hurt or killed.

FUCK.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Aw, crap.  Sorry to hear that, Morat.  Hope you can find him quick before anything bad happens.  Perhaps put a piece of clothing with your scent on it outside on a porch to have something familiar for him to maybe smell?  I've heard that works for cats, why not dogs?

[schild]

And now one of my dogs is lost in the fucking boonies of Texas. They both got out yesterday morning at my in-laws place, which is on a lake in the middle of wooded nowhere Texas.

One was found by a neighbor. The other was seen barking randomly at people around noon, but no one has heard or seen him since. It rained, so the odds of him finding his way back have dropped. The whole area is aware he's loose (apparently loose dogs are common enough they have a phone tree setup for it), but....

Fuck. If he's not found by tomorrow, the fireworks are going to drive him further from the lake (where all the people are) and deeper into the woods and then farmland. Assuming he hasn't already eaten or drunk something that made him sick (it's hot as fucking hell out there), or decide to harass a deer and get hurt or killed.

FUCK.

:(

[Mandella]

And now one of my dogs is lost in the fucking boonies of Texas. They both got out yesterday morning at my in-laws place, which is on a lake in the middle of wooded nowhere Texas.

One was found by a neighbor. The other was seen barking randomly at people around noon, but no one has heard or seen him since. It rained, so the odds of him finding his way back have dropped. The whole area is aware he's loose (apparently loose dogs are common enough they have a phone tree setup for it), but....

Fuck. If he's not found by tomorrow, the fireworks are going to drive him further from the lake (where all the people are) and deeper into the woods and then farmland. Assuming he hasn't already eaten or drunk something that made him sick (it's hot as fucking hell out there), or decide to harass a deer and get hurt or killed.

FUCK.

Go to social media, no matter what you feel about it in general. I have found that Facebook is pretty much the best for getting word of a lost pet out and getting it back, even better than plastering signs everywhere. Also local vets and of course checking the local pounds/animal shelters.

Good luck to you and your dog!

[ezrast]

Craigslist and NextDoor too. I found my cat on Craigslist after he'd been missing for three weeks a couple years back.

[Khaldun]

Was in a cooking mood today, so I made red stock (Hunan) and XO Sauce (Cantonese) for future cookery, as well as a tomato sauce for some crawfish I scored. The whole house smells like raunchy sauce and beautiful stock--the dogs would normally be conked out right now but they're wandering around like they're on a hunt for mammoths.

[Chimpy]

I read that as human stock....